Out of the 521 stories we brought to you on www.plasticsnews.com/china (English) in 2011, the 10 most-clicked stories are:

1. PolyOne launches new products at Chinaplas

2. Bioserie unveils bioplastic iPhone 4 covers

3. Solutia buying touch-screen film assets in Taiwan

4. Chen Hsong licenses Mitsubishi's two-platen technology

5. Book weighs plastics controversy

6. Jabil building new factory in Shenzhen

7. Jinhui to further expand lithium-ion battery film capacity

8. Polyolefin demand growing quickly in India

9. Asia-Pacific drives growth in film and sheet

10. L.K. Technology receives investment

When Apple's flagship store in Beijing canceled the launch of iPhone 4S last Friday morning, some angry customers (many reportedly scalpers) who had being waiting overnight in freezing weather threw eggs at the store. That's how popular the iPhones are in China.

Interestingly enough, a Chinese brand meanwhile is rapidly expanding its sales of cheap smartphones in the U.S., so far in a segment that brands like Apple don't appear to focus on.

Despite its current market position of a low-cost product brand, at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show last week, Shenzhen-based Huawei launched what it said was the world's thinnest smartphone. The company told media that it aims to become one of the top three global mobile phone brands by 2015. According to data compiled by NPD Group for the Wall Street Journal, Huawei ranked the seventh of the top 10 smartphones sold to U.S. customers in the third quarter of 2011.

NPD also found that more than half of the Huawei smartphones sold in the U.S. were purchased by consumers with household income of $35,000 or less. That income segment accounts for a quarter of smartphone buyers, the WSJ report said.

Apparently the Chinese brand is taking the lower-income American consumers -- some in households that have no Internet access -- online through affordable smartphones.

The WSJ report said many American consumers can't get their heads around the brand name "Huawei", and some refer to it as "Hawaii."

If Huawei is serious about expanding its presence in the Western market, maybe it could slightly revise its brand name to HW. Just like how its rival LG renamed itself from Lucky-Goldstar back in 1995.

PVC resin prices in China have been on a "vicious" decline -- below manufacturing cost -- since Sept. 2011, according to Jinlu Group, which expects to post a 90 million to-120 million yuan (US$14.3 million to $19 million) loss for fiscal year 2011.

Feedstock and electricity prices have been on a continuous rise, making it difficult to break even, Jinlu said in a Jan. 17 filing.

The company recorded 81.4 million yuan (US$13 million) in profit for 2010.

President Ma Ying-jeou's victory to win a second four-year term in office was achieved with strong support from the business community that's heavily invested in the Chinese mainland, including high-profile executives from Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) and Formosa Plastics Group.

Terry Gou, chairman of Hon Hai, the world's biggest contract electronics manufacturer, toured Taiwan before the election to endorse Ma. It was the first time Gou campaigned for a candidate, according to the Financial Times.Gou gave his Taiwanese employees in China 'election holidays' and chartered flights for them to return to Taiwan to cast their ballot.

Wang Wen-Yun, chief executive of the Formosa Plastics Group, also spoke in public to support Ma's cross-strait policies that focus on peace, stability and economic development.

Taiwan's export-led economy is heavily dependent on trade with the mainland.

What's more important is Taiwanese businesses' direct investment in mainland China. During 2011, Taiwan's authorities approved US$13.1 billion of direct investment in the mainland, a historic high and 7 percent higher than 2010, Xinhua reported. Electronics, computers, and chemicals/materials are among the most popular sectors.

Shenma Industry Co. Ltd., a publicly listed subsidiary of China's largest nylon 6/6 resin producer Shenma Group Co. Ltd., released disappointing preliminary earnings the day after the Chinese New Year holiday.

The Pingdingshan-based company reported a 45 percent decline in its 2011 net profit (25 million yuan or US$4 million) compared to 2010, on operating revenue of 15.3 billion yuan (US$3 billion).

The results are significantly different from the 60 percent growth in 2011 net profit that Shenma had forecast back in October.

Shenma cited a major decline in the fourth quarter caused by "changes in the domestic and international economic environment."

Shenma must have seen a decline larger than 100 percent in the fourth quarter, in order to drag the full year results down to negative 45 percent from positive 60 percent during the first three quarters.

Analysts questioned the possibility of that scenario, noting that even though nylon 6/6 prices dropped in the fourth quarter, feedstock prices also fell. Other nylon 6/6 makers have posted four-quarter decline in the range of 15-30 percent, according to the Daily Economic News.